Im having a tough time keeping my Ale at 68 degree

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Tonypr24

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Not because it too hot but because is too cold. My house does not have very good insulation so I have to keep my heat at 76 in order to have the house around 70 but i really dont want to keep the heat that high when i am at work (it would cost me a fortune). My house is perfect for lagers but I love my Ales. Anybody have any good ideas what i can do or build with a temp control adapter? If I buy a fride can i install a tem control to raise the temp of the fridge to 68 degree even if the room where the fride is is 50 degree?
 
Even if your house was at 60 degrees, your beer should be a little warmer and well within the range for your yeast. Some people here ferment ales even lower than that.
 
There are a couple things you can do.

You can use a fridge as a fermentation chamber, but sounds like you'll need the temperature controller connected to some heat source. In a fridge, you can use a heating pad to warm things up. If you get a 2-stage controller you can control both heating and cooling, so it'll be good for all seasons.

You can get a Rubbermaid bin, fill it with water and use an aquarium heater to keep things warm.

I use a heat lamp to keep the pantry where I ferment at a reasonable temperature. We heat with wood, and the pantry is the farthest from the heat source, so it stays kind of chilly (sometimes 45-55 degrees) and the heat lamp gets it to about 60-65.
 
A small cube made of rigid insulation, a light bulb, and a temperature controller.

This is working fine for me. However, my box is an old fridge. It's in very cold temps in the garage. I have a remote thermometer in the fridge, and a quick glance across the kitchen tells me that the fermenters are steady at 67F. I love magic! :)
 
Depending on your recipe, you may have the perfect problem. I prefer to ferment most of my ales in the low 60's, clean and crisp baby.
 
I am using the aquarium heater method and it works great. My house is fine, except for the one room I use for beer, which happens to be the only place I can really leave a fermenter. It was a cheap and easy fix to my temp control problems.
 
I am using the aquarium heater method and it works great. My house is fine, except for the one room I use for beer, which happens to be the only place I can really leave a fermenter. It was a cheap and easy fix to my temp control problems.


This is what I also do, except I have a Ranco controlling the aquarium heater. Works great and keeps the fermenters at the temp you want. I put the Ranco temp probe on the side of the fermenter, aquarium heater in the water bath.
 
wow guys thank you so much these are all good ideas. Thank you for all your replies.
 
The aquarium heater method has worked wonders for my temperature control.

My roomates and I are cheap bastards so the house stays at 53.
 
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